


We're Not Meant to Know The Answers

by Withstarryeyes



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 20:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14922581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Withstarryeyes/pseuds/Withstarryeyes
Summary: Tony and Stephen find a spark in the wake of Tony's divorce.





	We're Not Meant to Know The Answers

It’s a damp Tuesday night in New York. The ground under where Tony sits is gritty and cold, his pants soaking up the excess rainwater. He has a phone in one hand and his AA chip in the other. He’s fumbling the chip across his fingers, not quite managing the fidgety trick but enough to steady his breathing. 

The wind cuts across his face, biting into his jacket, and he sucks in a breath, shutting his eyes against it. Tears leak out of their own volition, warming his cheeks up where they hit. He brushes them off his mouth when they reach there, and rubs them off his fingers, accidentally touching the small space where his wedding band used to be. 

He thinks about abandoning his spot to go looking for it, rummaging through his drawers just so he can stare at it and think. 

He hears a whirring behind him and he tries to stand before it stops, tries to wipe his tears away. He misses the mark by a landslide, hand still planted on the group with his body halfway twisted up. 

“Strange,” he says quietly, letting him pull him up. He comes up short to the lanky stature of Stephen and he can smell the cologne lingering on the man’s chest. Stephen doesn’t say anything, just pins him to the spot with his periwinkle eyes and removes his cape, stepping closer to wrap his cloak around him. Tony shivers as it lands, and he feels how damp his clothes are. 

“I can’t--” he starts but Stephen just cuts him off, places one giant, warm palm on his face and strokes. Catches his wandering eyes. Pulls him close. 

He breathes in once deeply, the tang of perspiration filtering in through his nose before he breaks off into a choked sob. They come in waves here, in Stephen’s arms and he can’t stop once he starts hiccuping. Stephen sways as they stand, waiting. 

When he pulls back, tears mostly dried, feeling drained and sticky, he’s back in Stephen’s house, feet firmly planted on old mahogany. 

“I know, it’s too soon,” Stephen replies to what Tony was going to say before. They can’t date, not yet, not so close to his divorce. But they can stay together, unofficially, and Tony can take guilty composure in Stephen’s home. 

“You should shower,” he addresses Tony, and hands over a towel, pushing him towards the bathroom. Tony agrees with hooded eyes and aching joints. He feels in his pockets for the phone and the chip, finds them buried deep together in the back. 

He pulls them out and lets them clatter on the counter as he strips. He feels a little more human once the clothes are no longer stuck to him, and the remaining water is beginning to dry on his shoulders. 

He stares at the phone for too long, shivering in the bathroom alone, the white tiles miles away from where he used to live, used to shower. His fingers twitch for something labeled poisonous--scotch in a diamond glass or Steve’s voice on the line-- but his feet move first towards the shower. 

He turns on the spray and shuts his eyes, fingers where his band used to be and falls back into numbness, skin pink under the spray. He can’t hear the ringing of the phone in here, can’t tell if it’s going off or not. But he does know he’s not reaching out, and that’s progress. 


End file.
